Saturday, July 25, 2009

Thinking Through Electronic Employment Verification

As an attorney who spends a substantial part of his time worryingabout how corporate clients run their internal compliance programs, it is easyto forget that employment verification isn’t ONLY about protecting employersfrom fines and sanctions…it is also about insuring the integrity of a processwhich, mishandled, can infringe upon the rights of eligible U.S. workers.

As the Obama Administration significantly increases its I-9 auditactivity and I receive more calls from concerned employers and their providers,the subject of E-Verify – or whatever acronym the final version of our nationalelectronic employment verification system – is making the mainstreamheadlines. Some folks believe that thecurrent E-Verify system is just fine and works well; others, predictably thosein the corporate community, believe the current system is already onerous, and contemplated changes will make theirverification tasks darn near impossible.

While the debate is lively and valid points are made by bothsides, the debate distracts from the fundamental fact that the establishment ofa cost-effective I-9 compliance program is a relatively easy undertaking:

STEP ONE: Initiate an I-9 historical recordsaudit

STEP TWO:Digitizethe paper I-9 forms and

STEP THREE: Integratea proven software solution – such as www.i9Advantage.com, for which I serve as Compliance Counsel – and make sure the solutionis embedded as indelible part of the hiring process.

It’s really not rocket science!

I am working with I9 Advantage to develop a new, streamlined auditservice called “I-9 Audit Ready” which will FINALLY offer companies a fast andaffordable way of conducting a private internal audit, and making sure they are“I-9 Ready” if and when the federal folks decide to drop by. Whether your company has 100 or 100,000employees, drop me a line if you want to know more.

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Speaking of employmenteligibility verification, check out this position paper by a leading immigrationpolicy group:

1 comment:

Now that our legislators are supposedly on the same track with E-Verify, it needs to be rigorously enforced? California--a Sanctuary State--will need exclusive attention along with other border states, because they have been occupied by millions of illegal immigrants, causing major damage to their economies. Once E-Verify is fully implemented on a permanent basis for all the working population, including all persons on a payroll? My suggestion is an army of federal inspectors of perhaps retired civil servants, senior citizens in their resident community, to make unexpected inspections on large and small businesses.The inspectors will probably have to be armed with a general search warrant, but honorable business will hardly impose this restriction if they have nothing to hide? This will be a strict deterrent to parasite businesses, who will never be aware--WHEN THAT FEDERAL OFFICER--is going to turn up, to observe their workers? They will audit their books and check for irregularities in the workplace. This is happening in Italy and other countries, because of the importation of illegal foreign labor, has caused major concerns amongst the countries bona-fide workers. If Washington is really sincere about the10.5 jobless Americans, then we need to impose heavy penalties on those business that scorn the law. Another possibility is a reward system for informants, who have positive knowledge of companies that are scoffing at E-Verify, and committing the offense of hiring illegal aliens. Business are living off taxpayers taxes, because they don't convey health care to their illegal hires.Get on the phone and tell your Representative, you support--THE SAVE ACT-- 202-224-3121 Believe it! Your voices are having the right effect.?Support for the bi-partisan SAVE Act, which will expand E-Verify and protect American jobs! We must focus on the key to this major problem-the jobs that attract illegal aliens. It would phase in a requirement for every employer to use the electronic verification system. We must also be aware that the Democrats are ready to open the gates to our nation, once a path to citizenship is announced. Search out the facts at NUMBERSUSA, AMERICANPATROLCopy, paste and distribute freely.